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Celtic Woman: Sounds of the past |
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Written by Rebecca LaPole
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Thursday, 14 December 2006 |
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 In September of 2004, five talented ladies from the Celtic Tiger performed beautiful songs for a 90-minute PBS special. They never anticipated how that one performance would skyrocket them to international fame.
Now called Celtic Woman, the quintet comes to Loveland to open the Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular on Dec. 16 at the Budweiser Events Center.
Vocalists Chloë Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Méav Ni Mhaolchatha, Órla Fallon, who also plays harp, and fiddle player Máriéad Nesbitt, make up Celtic Woman, which was the brainchild of composer and musical director David Downes.
The ethereal Méav, relaxing at home in Dublin, Ireland, spoke about what it was like going from obscurity to stardom overnight: “Lisa, my colleague, said that the night she did the first show, she had no idea it would take off the way it did. After our performance aired on PBS, literally the next morning we were recognized on the street.”
Since then, Celtic Woman has gone on tour all over the world, where Méav said, “music is the only common language.” Now it seems figure skaters are taking a liking to their lovely music as well. Japanese figure skater Shizuko Arakawa performed to one of Celtic Woman’s songs to win the Olympic gold last year.
“I think people have taken to our music because it has a timeless quality and appeals to people in other artistic fields,” Méav said. “Although our songs are new, many of them sound old. It’s a mysterious thing, but we’re delighted.”
Méav enjoys touring and seeing new places. “One venue we loved was Red Rocks. It’s such an overwhelming place, a natural arena for acoustics,” she said. “To be outside is such a risk, it feels so primeval, like we’re continuing something that’s been going on for thousands of years.”
Celtic Woman’s music speaks to people in soothing ways. “It was fantastic when we first went to Japan and Korea,” Méav said. “They actually have a category of music called healing music, and it’s like a mix of new age and folk. Not just slow music, a lot of it is quite fast paced and some are dance tunes.
“It’s nice that our music can go beyond just entertaining. It’s very flattering, and I just think that everyone needs time out. Finding a quiet moment in your busy day is important, and if we can offer that to people, I just think that is great.”
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TO GO TO THE SHOW
• The Celtic Woman show opens for Brian Boitano’s Skating Spectacular.
• 7 p.m. Dec. 16
• Budweiser Events Center
• The event will be taped and nationally televised for NBC, airing on Jan. 1.
• Tickets: $45-$55.
Call 1.877.544.TIXX or go to ComcastTix.com, Budweiser Events Center box office, Fort Fun in Fort Collins, Colorado Eagles Office in Windsor, Woody’s Newsstand & Café in Greeley and the Ikon Center in Cheyenne.
ONLINE
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